


Eventually

by necroneol



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: M/M, please i...
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-10
Updated: 2019-01-10
Packaged: 2019-10-07 23:49:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,882
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17375510
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/necroneol/pseuds/necroneol
Summary: Chapter 28, "Freedom March," retold.





	Eventually

**Author's Note:**

> how it should have been honestly??? let me know what you think! comments are very much appreciated :)

“I was wondering where you were.”

A familiar voice sounding behind him brought Markus from his somber daze. The toes of his boots had been teetering too close for comfort at the edge of the jutting frame, the sturdy structure that once held up this building, now crumbling and exposed. Markus took a step back, putting himself in an ever so slightly safer position, but did not move much more than that. Not even to see who stood behind him now. There was no need; he could recognize Simon’s voice any time.

“I needed a second,” Markus replied, blinking rapidly at the near setting sun, glaring in his eyes. “to think, to…” The snowfall dusting the land and the complexes around them reflected every ray of light, made everything turn to glitter and glow, “to see the sun.”

“I can leave you be, if you’d like.” Simon offered, as amicable and steady and gentle as ever. Markus shook his head once.

“No,” he turned away from the sun momentarily, glancing at Simon over his shoulder. “No, it’s alright, Simon. Stay.”

To this, Simon said nothing. He approached the edge of the open room, but left Markus to his lonely perch, opting instead to simply stand beside it’s base. He could see more clearly this way, could easily define the silhouette of the man before him. Because he was a man, not a machine. His form was heavy with the weight of many burdens, but his head was raised high. When he had stood there, believing he was alone, unknowing that Simon had been watching him with a sad sort of sympathy, it had been lowered and hung unsure, but now that a single gaze once again pressed into his being, he stood tall and strong. How much of it was a facade, Simon wondered? How much of that facade was put on for his own benefit, and how much for the benefit of those who stood beneath him expectantly?

Simon had been the unspoken leader of Jericho before him, and even still he only knew half of what Markus faced. Simon’s position had been ruled by fear and hesitance. He had never proposed some daring plan, never attempted to rally a cause, or to spark a much overdue uprising. His time as leader had been a time of unstable stability, and it was only his comforting good-nature that had made any of it worth while.

“You’ve done us all well, Markus,” Simon told him, truthfully so. Even if it was hard, if there had been casualties, in the end Simon knew it was for the best. Markus was just the only one with courage enough to act. He was unique, and strong, and reliable. Markus said nothing, but the slight slump of his shoulders showed his thanks.

Simon turned his head away from the man standing before him and towards the snow glimmering under his boots. “What was your life like, before Jericho?” His voice was quiet, but genuine, and kind.

Markus hesitated. He was searching for the right words. How much to tell, how to tell it. His pointer and thumb rubbed the fabric of his long sleeve undershirt in a small nervous habit. It was things like that, the ticks and fumblings that made these androids people. Markus pressed his lips into a line. “I took care of a good man. He told me every day, that I should never let anyone tell me who I was, or who I was meant to be. He treated me…like a son. More like a son than he treated his actual biological offspring.” Markus laughed a little, though it sounded bitter and sad, “Because…some humans are so cruel, they can’t even learn to be kind to one another, Carl died. He died in my arms, and I was torn to pieces and thrown away without a question. They ripped me apart and bashed my head in even as I cried over his body.” His voice shook, lowering.  
Simon almost regretted asking, but he knew if Markus had been unwilling to share, he wouldn’t have done so. “I’m so sorry,” was all he could say, turning to face Markus once more.

Markus pivoted where he stood, away from the sun. He cast a long shadow over Simon’s eyes, and through the break in the blinding sunlight their gaze met. “What about you, Simon? Who were you?”

Simon’s brow furrowed, and pale blue eyes shifted down. “I…I’d rather not…”Markus frowned, mildly, but nodded. He stopped him before he could mull over it too long. “No, it’s okay. You don’t have to tell me.”It wasn't that he didn't want to, or he didn’t trust Markus enough to share the most enigmatic part of his person, but it was simply that he truly and surely did not believe that he was not the same person then as he was now. The Simon that mattered was the Simon that had once stood at the head of an abandoned freighter haven, the Simon that now stood as the right hand man of the leader of revolution.

“Who I was before is meaningless,” Simon replied carefully, raising his head to stare at Markus, “All that matters is the present, and the future. Nothing more.”

“I suppose so.” Markus laughed again, and it sounded a little more genuine this time. Simon released a breath he didnt even have to breathe, let alone hold. He felt himself smile in response, and the stern look in his eyes softened to one of tentative fondness.

Markus walked off of the extended beam, and onto solid footing where Simon stood. “Did you come up here to tell me something?” He asked at last, finally remembering that Simon had likely approached him for a reason. What he was given as a reply was unpredicted, to say the least.

“No, I,” Simon lifted one shoulder and dropped it in a shrug, “I just wanted to see you.”

“Oh.” Markus smiled, embarrassed but not unhappy. He padded past Simon, boots crunching in the frost, towards the lonely piano in the corner of what was left of the room. He sat down, facing away from the piano keys, resting his elbows on his knees, and looking up at Simon, watching him as he slowly followed suit, and sat beside him on the aged bench.

They sat together for a few moments, simply watching the sun in the sky, ever so gradually creeping towards its resting horizon. The refracted white snow had turned a warm, pink hue, bathed in sunset. It would be getting dark soon. Markus heaved a sigh, more out of learned habit than anything else, and finally cast his line of sight towards Simon. He was surprised to find their eyes met instantly. If he could have, he would have turned red.

Simon spoke up, honestly, though his voice, for the first time, sounded a little timid. “I’m really glad you came to us, Markus. You’ve done us a deal of good.” He shuffled his feet in the frost.

“I only wish I could have done better.” Markus whispered, lowering his head to stare at his hands, clasped tightly together with stress. Simon placed a hand on his shoulder, and offered some reassurance that he was more than better, he was more than enough, and Markus’s throat tightened. He smiled softly at the man beside him, and nodded wordlessly in thanks.

Simon let his hand fall, but caught Markus at the elbow, keeping faint contact. It was comforting to feel the form of someone else beneath his palm, to feel their presence beside him. It was a kind of comfort not just Simon, but all androids felt far too little. Markus seemed to realize this, too, and he reached across his lap to squeeze his fingers over Simon’s.

Markus turned then, swinging his legs over the bench and nodding for Simon to do the same. He scooted the bench in, and took a deep breath. Now facing the lonely piano, forgotten and broken like so many other things in this world, Markus grinned, flashing a hint of perfect polymer teeth.

“I used to play, you know. Carl taught me to play, and to appreciate reading from books, and he even let me paint once…”

“Really?” Simon was pleasantly surprised, and inclined his head in interest. “Will you play something for me then?”  
Markus nodded and placed his fingers on the keys. “If you’d like,” he responded, before shifting his attention to the spread beneath his fingers. The fake ivory keys did not feel like home, as Carl’s piano had, but they felt more like home than anything else on this broken rooftop, and that was enough. Slowly at first, easing into the melody, he began to drift his fingers across the keys. It was light, easy. Full of hope and wishes for a future to come. His fingers, skillful and sure, strung together a wonderful sound, without a single fault. Maybe it was the absolute perfection of an android, or maybe it was the quality of a man with a heavy and heartfelt soul, who was pouring every ounce of himself into each note he could ease from the poor keys.

By the time silence once again returned to their ears, Simon was near tears. Markus eased away from the keyboard slightly, but his hands did not leave their resting place. Simon raised a hand to place it lightly atop his, and gave it a gentle squeeze. Markus returned the pressure.

“You’re the most amazing person I’ve ever met, Markus,” Simon murmured.

“It’s not me. It’s the people I’ve met.” Markus answered, his voice just as soft, “Without every encounter in my life, I wouldn’t be half the man I am right now. Good and bad…it’s all had a purpose in my story.”

Simon squeezed his hand again. He smiled, half to himself. “I’m grateful I could be a part of your story. You’re truly…the most amazing person I’ve ever met. Even in this life, full of hardship and suffering, you’ve made it worth living again. You’ve given us all a light to follow.”

“Simon…”

Markus’s brow creased, and he twisted where he sat to gaze down at the blonde sitting by his side. His hands finally lifted from the piano keys, one joined with Simon’s, the other now reaching up to thumb over his jaw slowly. Simon closed the distance between them with a breathless sigh, and their lips met. Between them, where their hands touched, their synthetic skin receded, exposing the white shell beneath. Markus let his mind go, let his memories and thoughts flow freely into Simon giving him all he had, and in return Markus received…nothing. Nothing but warmth and kindness and an undying love. Markus would be lying if he said he wasn't disappointed to find himself once again shut out from Simon’s past, but he knew he just needed time. And then maybe, once this was all over, they could spend their time together, forging a new world for only the two of them, one with no more strife, no more slavery, no more pain.

But for the time being, this intimacy was all they could share, and for now…it was enough.


End file.
